Best recorded version
J. Anderson | Monterey, CA USA | 08/18/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"With due respect to another of the reviews on this page, this is the best of the recorded versions of this magnificent symphony. The symphony utilises various texts on death and the psychology of despair, and is a perfect hymn to survival. Such is the constant mystery of Shostakovich's art. Perhaps in no other symphony is it plumbed as in the Fourteenth. The musicianship of Bernstein seems happily to manifest most clearly in the artists with whom he chooses to work, and in few other instances that come to mind is this more true than his choice of soprano Teresa Kubiak. The Malaguena, and Lorelei, touch the ineffable. Bernstein's telepathy with Shostakovich makes palpable the bitterness, joy and humor in the heart of torture. This is a great version of the work, a preternatural symbiosis of composer and conductor. I'm astonished with each listening, and would venture that Kubiak's singing rivals Vishnevskaya's in the work. Bernstein follows his heart from beginning to end. Would that a mere dirge could achieve as much. It's a work to stave off death and its sorrows forever. Copies of this edition are surely still available."
NOT THE GREATEST RECORDING
J. Anderson | 11/01/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is however, the benchmark for those unaquainted with this most powerful of works. Bernstein simply lacks the passion and white fire here. He is not shockingly abrasive like Kondrashin and Barshai (the latter even added extra timpani and a bass drum to the closing notes) nor is there a relentless drive accosted at the price of subtlties (Rostropovich). The recording is sleak , like Haitink but the bassist lacks the histrionics that Make this piece all the more frightening. Not definitve by far."